Learn from Kazakhstan, EC Chief tells Malaysian employers
Particularly impressed with the local companies here which had set up "election secretariats" to ensure that all their workers got to cast their vote on election day, Mohd Hashim said the EC may propose to Malaysian employers to introduce a similar system at their workplaces.
"It's obvious that here in Kazakhstan, all employers take the election very seriously and they take pride in exercising their right to vote.
"To make sure that all the eligible voters in their workforce get the chance to cast their votes, the companies set up election secretariats, which will make it a point to call the workers at around midday to find out if they have voted or not. If they have not, then they will be given time off to vote," he told Bernama, here after addressing a group of local journalists at the Kazakhstan Central Election Commission (CEC) office on Monday.
Mohd Hashim said he found the system "very interesting" and hoped to see Malaysian employers emulating it.
Under the Election Offences Act 1954, employers are required to grant their employees time off to enable them to vote but, according to Mohd Hashim, not all of them were adhering to the rule.
"It's the responsibility of employers to give their employees time off to vote but not all of them in Malaysia are doing this. They need to learn from their counterparts in Kazakhstan and treat elections more seriously," he added.
ATTACHMENT WITH CEC
Kazakhstan held its sixth Mazhilis, or lower house of parliament, election last Sunday. President Nursultan Nazarbayev's dominant Nur Otan party emerged the winner after securing 82.15 per cent of the votes cast.
Mohd Hashim was among the international observers invited by the Kazakhstan government to observe its electoral process.
The EC Chairman said he was even considering sending some of his officers on attachment to the Kazakhstan CEC to expose them to its electoral system and learn from it.
"Our systems are different and there are certain things that we can learn from them," he said, adding that the attachment may not however, take place anytime soon due to budget constraints.
In his speech earlier, Mohd Hashim said he was impressed with the efforts taken by the CEC to encourage voters to fulfil their constitutional right.
"It's not enough to just conduct voter registration exercises. Voting (on election day) must also be encouraged," he said, noting that the CEC had a "very good system in place" to encourage high voter turnout.
Offering gifts to the first voter or first person aged 50 to turn up at a polling centre, as well as to voters who were celebrating their birthday on election day or were aged between 80 and 90, was a novel way to encourage members of the public to come out and vote, he said.
NO RESTRICTION ON CHILDREN
Mohd Hashim said he had also noticed that the CEC did not prohibit children from accompanying their parents to the polling centre and even into the booth.
"The children are even allowed to put the ballot paper into the box after their parents had marked it... the Kazakhstan government believes in exposing children to the electoral system at a young age.
"I suppose the early exposure would help inculcate in them the importance of fulfilling their right to vote," he added.
In Malaysia, under Section 15 of the EC's Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations, 1981, only registered voters are allowed into polling stations.
Source: BERNAMA